New Morning exhibit features adoptable children

Ann and Joel Weinstein know exactly how a photograph can sharply tug the heart strings. They adopted three of their five children from Oregon adoption agencies, spurred on by that heart tug.

Now the couple, the owners of Corvallis' New Morning Bakery, hope that a month-long exhibit at the bakery will help other potential families consider adopting children who have long been awaiting a permanent home.

This month, New Morning is hosting a traveling display of photographs of adoptable Oregon children called The Heart Gallery of Oregon. The photographs feature foster children who for one reason or another have not been adopted by their foster families. Hundreds of Oregon children in foster care are looking for permanent families, and organizers of the gallery hope the images of some of those children inspire others to consider adoption.

The Weinsteins' oldest child, Nathanael, was adopted into the family after Ann lost her first baby, and the couple feared they wouldn't be able to have another. But Ann became pregnant again, and had two boys, Eli and Zak. For awhile, they thought the family would remain a boisterous three.

But Ann longed for a girl, and after a bout with cancer, she decided that she wanted to adopt another child. Neither she nor Joel wanted a baby, so when they came upon 6-year-old Maria in an adoption publication, they knew instantly from her photograph that she would become part of their family.

"That picture of Maria, it's just a gorgeous little smile. It's all smile," Ann said.

Maria settled comfortably into the family, and for nearly 10 years, it seemed everything was complete. But last spring Joel, an art teacher at Linus Pauling Middle School, was looking through an adoption newsletter when he saw a face he recognized. It was a young woman named Magon (pronounced Megan), who had been a student of his. Magon had been in foster care since age 6, and was looking for a permanent family.

Instinctively, Joel wanted to help. Although neither parent had planned on adding to the family, it seemed the right course to take.

"It was just a gut thing," Joel said. "We really needed to have her with us."

Magon joined the family a week before starting high school. She is now settled comfortably into the Weinsteins' world, tackling a new family and a new school with the support of her new parents and siblings.

The Weinsteins fostered children before they began their own family, and recognize the importance of foster care. But children who remain in foster care situations and are never adopted are at much higher risk at ending up either on the street or in jail, according to studies by the Citizens Crime Commission.

Ann has been a volunteer on the state adoption committee for years, and helps out during the process of getting a child placed with a family that is a good match. The process can occasionally be competitive when two or more families express interest in adopting the same child. Oregon has a strong track record of matching children with the right families, and it's in the child's best interest when a number of qualified parents are eager to adopt them.

The children currently featured in the Heart Gallery have no such crowd competing to welcome them home.

"Some of these kids, there's nobody applying for them," Ann said, and that's exactly why she feels the Heart Gallery is so important.

The gallery has had remarkable success so far, according to organizers. When it appeared in Medford, local inquiries into adoption rose from an average of three a month to 46, and 17 inquiries were made into foster care. In Marion County, the appearance of the Heart Gallery tripled calls for adoption inquiries.

The show will be on display at New Morning Bakery, 219 S.W. Second St., through mid-July.

For more information, go to www.heartgalleryoregon.org. For information on adoptable children in Oregon, call 1-800-331-0503. To become a foster parent, call the same number, or 1-888-586-7508.

If you go

New Morning Bakery is playing host to a reception at 7 p.m. Friday of the Heart Gallery of Oregon, a traveling photographic display featuring adoptable children in the state. The bakery is located at 219 S.W. Second St.